Comments on: Target Stores – An SEO Challenge

By: John Dugan

John Dugan — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 07:20:08 +0000

Ian,
First time, long time. I love reading your blog and This is a great (and quite funny) post. It’s AMAZING how business is simply ingnored by Fortune 500’s. I am with DAN J – let us know if you hear back from Target.
Thanks!
john

By: Ian

Ian — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 12:54:35 +0000

@Fraser The changes won’t increase traffic in an hour. The changes themselves will take an hour.
I WILL say, though, that reordering title tags and fixing a basic canonicalization issue like home page linking will have a very fast effect on their long- and short-tail traffic.

By: Fraser

Fraser — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 12:49:39 +0000

If you have ever worked in the client side, you will know that there are daily pressures on delivering instant sales.
If you have ever sat in on regional sales meeting, daily sales meetings where you are lynched upon by a sales director with the ferocity of an alsatian with a rubber band around its genitals, to deliver sales now, not tomorrow then you will understand why Target spend on PPC and not SEO.
PPC is the equivalent of “oh sh*t, marketing team we need sales and NOW.
Iain, you are totally correct in everything you say, but you couldn’t honestly turn around and increase traffic within the hour with these tweaks.
SEO doesn’t deliver instant results and that’s what a box shifter wants.
Fraser

By: Aaron Bradley

Aaron Bradley — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 09:14:56 +0000

Great post. Your advice seems shockingly straightforward, but it’s remarkable how such things (particularly the canonicalization problems caused by parameterized URLs) are so often overlooked in enterprise SEO.
Can’t help by point out (yes, with a smart ass smile) that you searched for and found the key term on “page 2” and hypothesized about the benefits of a “top-5 position.” Thought rankings don’t matter, dude (2008/12/seo-2009-adapt-or-die.htm). :) Heh … subject of a much-overdue blog post from me, where I promise I’ll give you the opportunity to pillory me.

By: Dan J

Dan J — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 07:04:23 +0000

If you get a reply, PLEASE god paste it on here. On that note… good luck getting a reply :)

By: Kim

Kim — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:52:26 +0000

Brilliant post. This works on so many levels–it’s as much a “how to write linkbait” as a “how Target can get a clue about SEO” post. You’ve got some seriously impressive writing (as well as SEO) skills.